From the Lifestream
by Kaniner
Summary: Angeal watches over Zack during the remainder of Crisis Core.


**Angeal watches the remaining events of Crisis Core after his death. **

**NOTE: This could be seen as Zangeal and I intended it to be that way, but if that's not your thing it's still ok to read this. It's not romantic.**

**I have never written Final Fantasy fiction. I finally got to play Crisis Core over the Christmas holiday and I have come to completely adore the Zangeal fandom. 3 Whether you see their relationship as strictly friends/student/teacher or romantic, it was a wonderful thing to watch and read about. **

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**For years, I watched him live on. For years, I watched him suffer. Even in my bitterness towards ShinRa, I couldn't abandon my student… the one I cared about. He mourned for the loss of this monster. He still saw me as I lived, honorable and full of pride. **

**My energetic, youthful Puppy stumbled to the slums and sobbed in the arms of one he loved. It was in that moment that he grew up. He had cried then, and it was the first time he had prayed to me. **

**He laid in his room, the expanded apartment for a 1st****, sobbing into his pillow like a lifeline. I thought he had cried himself to sleep. The room was quiet for a long time, but then he spoke. **

"**Angeal… Can… you hear me?"**

**Of course I tried to answer, but the dead cannot speak to the living, except sometimes in dreams. **

"**Angeal…what should I do?" **

**That question was one he would ask me many times for his remaining years. I could never answer, but he seemed to take the right courses on his own. He spoke to me often, praying for advice and telling me of his feelings, more open to me now than he had ever been. I had never before realized just how much I meant to him**

**He changed his hair, proudly displaying the scars I had marked on him, the last lesson from Angeal. He adopted my philosophy and teachings as his own, urging the Infantrymen and young SOLDIER recruits to hold on to their dreams and never forget honor. I was proud, but the dimmed fire in his eyes was painful to watch. **

**My betrayal had wounded him, and killing me him cost him his innocence. His friends in the Turks and that girl, Aerith, were there to help him heal. The Turks instigated a "hold" on Zack's missions and arranged a vacation for him in Costa de Sol. I wanted to aid him as well. The remaining copies of my cells felt my call and obeyed my desire, even keeping watch over the Church. **

**But then Sephiroth was infected with bad memories and influenced by Genesis' insanity. I mourned the loss of my two friends. Once again, Zack must deliver the wretched to justice. **

**And when Hojo came… I had never before wanted someone dead as badly as that man the moment he took Zack into his "care." **

**Zack, my tormented student, now a monster just like those he had tried to save. Four years, he was experimented on. He was asleep for most of it, in a medically induced coma so Hojo wouldn't have to hear his protests, his screams… But in that blankness his voice still called to me.**

"**Hey Angeal---Is there no one I can save?"**

**How pained his voice was. Could his pure heart stand any more ugliness? He was far from frail, but life had killed his dreams -though not his honor. **

**I visited him in his dream, giving him the strength and awareness to break free of his cage. He saw my feathers, saw the sky that matched his eyes and looked up at me. **

"**Those wings… I want them too."**

**Zack had been right all along. It wasn't Genesis or myself who were the monsters, not the real ones. Hojo and his damned experiments… ShinRa's greed… those were the monsters of our world. The wings were no longer a sign of a beast to me, they were the liberating grace for the victims. **

**The end had come too soon for him. But I was relieved. Ever since he joined ShinRa his life had been filled with betrayal and pain, constantly losing people he loved. He deserved so much better than the life he lived! He deserved happiness, not to be gunned down mercilessly like a dog by the perverted company's army. **

**The lowly army soldier's stand over Zack, who even then had fire in his eyes and tried to stand. I wanted so much to run the buster sword through the coward's heart as he raised his gun to Zack's incapacitated body and fired. Zack jerked, and lay still, eyes unseeing as they left him for dead. **

**Zack retained his dignity even as he bled to death next to his friend. He passed his honor and hopes onto Cloud, just as I had done for him. With ragged breaths, he looked to the lifestream. **

**The moment had come. I could finally save my student from all the pain. My wings had returned, pure, not tainted, and I flew down to grab my Puppy's hand. Zack smiled, the light and purity returned as he gazed up at his mentor's form. **

"**Angeal….would you say… I became a hero?" **

**I smiled and pulled him close, lifting him to the lifestream. **

"**Yes, Zack…More than the world deserved."**

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**Review yeah? It may not be the most interesting thing I've ever written, but I still like it. **


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